I
The epic legend of Texas is the legend of the San Saba, or Bowie, Mine.
In Spanish chronicles it is known as La Mina de Los Almagres, or simply
Los Almagres; also as Las Amarillas; sometimes as La Mina de las
Iguanas, or Lizard Mine, from the fact that the ore was said to be
found in chunks called iguanas (lizards). Almagre means red earth.
“To discover a rumored Silver Hill (Cerro de la Plata) somewhere to the
north, several attempts were made before 1650 from both Nuevo Leon and
Nueva Vizcaya, but were frustrated by Indian hostilities.” [36]
“Sir,... the principal vein is more than two square bars thick, and
from a distance the upper part of it looks to be more than thirty bars
wide.... We met Indians who assured us that on beyond the almagres were
still larger and richer ... and that there we might find an abundance
not only of ore but of pure silver.... But the mines of Cerro del
Almagre are so numerous ... that I pledge myself to give the
inhabitants of the province of Texas one each, without any man’s being
prejudiced in the measurements.” Thus reported Bernardo de Miranda as a
result of his prospecting tour for minerals in the Llano country in
1756. [37] And partly “because an opulence and abundance of silver and
gold was the principal foundation upon which the kingdom of Spain
rested” (“por que la riqueza y abundancia de plata, y oro, es el fundo
principal de que resuelta los reinos de España”), [38] as the royal
viceroy of Mexico took occasion to remind his subordinates, an
immediate establishment of mission and presidio on the San Saba River
was undertaken and the mining enterprise presumably launched.
Thus the rumor of the Hill of Silver developed into the epic legend of
Texas. History has recorded clearly the foundation and the failure of
the San Saba mission and presidio, and there is no occasion for
repeating the story here. [39] It has been singularly reticent on the
subject of the mines. Dr. Dunn says nothing on it. Dr. Bolton tells of
having “identified the mine opened by Miranda with the Boyd Shaft” on
Honey Creek, fifty or sixty miles from the mission and presidio that
were near what is now Menard on the San Saba. [40] The fullest essay
yet made at treating the debatable subject of the mines is to be found
in a pamphlet by the late John Warren Hunter, entitled “Rise and Fall
of the Mission San Saba,” to which is appended “A Brief History of the
Bowie or Almagres Mine.” [41] The implication from history is that the
mines were closed with the abandonment of the San Saba presidio, 1769.
However, inasmuch as the nearest military protection was more than
fifty miles away and was unable to hold its own against the Comanches
and other hostile tribes, it is doubtful whether the mines were ever
worked to any extent. Hunter finds, on doubtful evidence, that they
were still being operated in 1812. [42] Again, it is claimed that
Mexico was preparing to reopen the mines when Iturbide fell in 1823.
[43]
But with the evidence at hand it would be idle to go further into the
history of the mines. All that I myself know is what I have read in and
of Miranda’s reports; and these reports were the propaganda of an
ambitious promotion seeker, made before, not after, practical
exploitation. The mines may have been worked consistently for a while.
They may have paid. According to one report in the Miranda documents,
the ore assayed eleven ounces to the pound. [44] Hunter says that a
report made in 1812 by Don Ignacio Obregon, who signed himself
“Inspector Real de las Minas,” announced an analysis of $1680 to the
ton; [45] but this Don Ignacio’s reports of assays have been only a
little less ubiquitous than peddled charts. [46] According to a recent
United States Government report, the Llano country shows no evidence of
gold or silver in paying quantities. [47]
It is true that Miranda was ordered to take thirty mule loads of ore to
Mexico to be carefully assayed. According to some traditions, all the
ore of Texas mines was transported to Mexico to be smelted; on the
other hand, the ruins of sundry smelters have been reported by hunters
for the mines. The point is that a great many legends about
“seventeen,” “thirty,” or “forty jack loads” of buried bullion may have
been derived from the actual transportation of a pack train of crude
ore.